Wii U components cost $180, price point $300?

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The latest rumor making the rounds about Nintendo’s next console, the Wii U, is that the hardware is quite lacking. It may not even keep up with the Xbox 360 and PS3 despite it being some 7 years since Microsoft released its machine. Now we have another reason to think that the hardware inside the Wii U isn’t exactly cutting edge.

Forget The Box has been talking to people involved with the manufacture and distribution of Nintendo hardware. They have learned that the total cost of the Wii U components, including the controller, is $180. The cost of the controller alone is $50. As for a price point, Nintendo wants to launch at $300, which would give both Nintendo and retailers a share of the $120 profit margin, but realistically it will be much less than that when taking into consideration packaging costs, distribution, and marketing.

How has Nintendo managed to only spend $180 on components? By being very economical in its hardware choices. Apparently the CPU/GPU combo was very cheap and manages to “keep up” with existing consoles. There’s also thought to be a much greater focus on downloadable content and other features, suggesting Nintendo wants to position the Wii U as a media box as well as a family games machine.

Launching at $300 makes the Wii U more expensive than the base PS3 and Xbox 360, but on a par with those machines carrying bundled games. The question is, will Nintendo launch the machine with a bundled game on a par with Wii Sports for a better value proposition? If the new focus is on download content, then the console could ship with some free download games rather than a game disc.

It’s only a couple of months until E3, where Nintendo will be revealing a lot more about the machine. We should get to see how good (or bad) the games look, how well the controller works, and what innovations Nintendo has managed to come up with.

With a solid game line-up and HD graphics, there’s still a chance of success for the machine. But the limitation of one tablet controller per machine, plus the fear the games won’t look as good as PS3/360, could result in a bit of a disaster for the Japanese company.